City Ethics records · Lobbying
Who pays lobbyists to work on City matters?
In 2025, clients reported paying registered lobbying firms $74.2M to lobby the City. Of that, $50.4M came from 1,378 organizations named below, and $23.8M from 845 clients filed as individuals or not confirmed as organizations, which are counted but not named. In 2026 (through Q2): $34.0M.
Lobbying is legal and registered. These are the amounts clients reported paying lobbying firms, as filed with the City Ethics Commission. They show who hired a firm and on what; they do not show what any official did, and a client that also holds a City contract appears in both sets of records without either one explaining the other.
Payments to lobbying firms, by year
Reported payments from 2005; 2026 (through Q2) is still in progress (marked *). Exact duplicate rows are counted once, and a line with no amount is counted as not reported, never as $0.
Reported payments to lobbying firms by calendar year
| Name | Reported payments |
|---|---|
| 2005 | $20.8M |
| 2006 | $29.9M |
| 2007 | $35.6M |
| 2008 | $38.5M |
| 2009 | $32.9M |
| 2010 | $34.2M |
| 2011 | $33.7M |
| 2012 | $40.9M |
| 2013 | $43.0M |
| 2014 | $47.5M |
| 2015 | $53.7M |
| 2016 | $62.3M |
| 2017 | $64.4M |
| 2018 | $68.9M |
| 2019 | $73.5M |
| 2020 | $76.3M |
| 2021 | $73.6M |
| 2022 | $70.8M |
| 2023 | $74.4M |
| 2024 | $75.8M |
| 2025 | $74.2M |
| 2026* | $34.0M |
The last twelve quarters
Firms report each quarter. A firm–client pair listed with no amount on any line is counted under “No amount reported”.
| Quarter | Reported payments | Payment lines | No amount reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 Q4 | $19.4M | 2,579 | 2 |
| 2024 Q1 | $18.4M | 1,974 | 4 |
| 2024 Q2 | $18.4M | 2,212 | 4 |
| 2024 Q3 | $19.3M | 2,411 | 5 |
| 2024 Q4 | $19.8M | 2,557 | 134 |
| 2025 Q1 | $17.4M | 1,843 | 135 |
| 2025 Q2 | $18.7M | 2,108 | 135 |
| 2025 Q3 | $17.8M | 2,293 | 142 |
| 2025 Q4 | $20.4M | 2,386 | 152 |
| 2026 Q1 | $16.2M | 1,673 | 136 |
| 2026 Q2 | $17.8M | 1,876 | 144 |
| 2026 Q3Reports still arriving | $0 | 4 | 23 |
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Clients
Organizations that reported paying a lobbying firm in 2025 or 2026 (through Q2), by 2025 payments. A client is named only when its name is clearly an organization's (a legal form such as Inc. or LLC, or a word such as Association, Foundation or Union) and carries no person's name. Names are shown as filed, so one company can appear under more than one spelling.
| Client | 2025 | 2026 so far | Firms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fox Studio Lot LLC | $681K | $441K | 4 |
| BARDAS Investment Group | $606K | $290K | 3 |
| La Terra Development LLC | $593K | $378K | 1 |
| Fundamental Advisors LP | $591K | $124K | 2 |
| AEG | $504K | $207K | 2 |
| Topa Equities Ltd | $488K | $24K | 2 |
| Fox Corporation | $465K | $102K | 3 |
| A.F. Gilmore Company | $448K | — | 2 |
| S&R Partners | $403K | — | 1 |
| Atlas Capital Group, LLC | $397K | $122K | 1 |
| All Vision, LLC, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority | $396K | $29K | 1 |
| Chick-fil-A, Inc. | $391K | $136K | 2 |
| Acqua Ancien Bath, Inc. | $377K | $23K | 1 |
| 6434 Yucca Streets Associates, LP | $368K | — | 1 |
| IKE Smart City, LLC | $360K | $133K | 5 |
| JMB Realty Corporation | $354K | $27K | 2 |
| Milken Community Schools | $321K | $264K | 2 |
| San Antonio Winery, Inc. dba Riboli Family Wine Estates and its affiliate S&R Partners, LLC | $314K | $170K | 3 |
| 5929 Sunset Hollywood, LLC | $304K | $22K | 2 |
| HAAS BHCP Property Owner LLC | $298K | $207K | 1 |
| National Real Estate Development | $289K | $34K | 1 |
| Hines Interests Limited Partnership | $289K | $57K | 1 |
| CIM Group | $287K | $184K | 3 |
| Warren Resources Inc. | $285K | $302K | 2 |
| Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc. | $262K | $56K | 2 |
| Borstein Enterprises | $256K | $50K | 4 |
| Digital Realty | $245K | $129K | 1 |
| Niagara Bottling, LLC | $240K | $120K | 1 |
| Digital Realty Services | $235K | $100K | 1 |
| Plains Marketing Ca, LLC | $235K | $65K | 1 |
| Banner SoCal Developer, LLC | $228K | $87K | 1 |
| Friends of Westwanda Drive | $225K | — | 1 |
| TKG Management, Inc. (Hollywood Park, LLC) | $222K | $142K | 1 |
| Lincoln Property Company | $216K | $105K | 2 |
| 5035 Coliseum Property LLC | $211K | $34K | 2 |
| Jamison Properties | $210K | $65K | 1 |
| Foxcorp Holdings LLC | $208K | $150K | 2 |
| Whitebird, Inc. | $195K | $65K | 1 |
| Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 | $195K | $100K | 1 |
| McDonald's Corporation | $195K | $60K | 2 |
| Jade Enterprises | $189K | $49K | 4 |
| City Pads LLC | $189K | $71K | 1 |
| Capital Hall Partners | $188K | $64K | 3 |
| AECOM Consult, Inc | $186K | $60K | 1 |
| Southern Standard Corporation | $185K | $113K | 1 |
| S&R Partners,LLC | $184K | $105K | 1 |
| Harridge Development Group, LLC | $182K | $203K | 2 |
| California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses | $180K | $90K | 1 |
| Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. | $180K | $50K | 3 |
| Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. | $180K | $90K | 1 |
| Ventus Group | $179K | $134K | 2 |
| National Real Estate Development LLC | $179K | $35K | 1 |
| Official Police Garage Assn of LA | $178K | $75K | 1 |
| 11973 San Vicente LLC | $176K | — | 1 |
| ONNI Group Contracting (California) Inc. | $176K | $88K | 1 |
| Shatto Emet QOZB LP | $175K | $77K | 2 |
| Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies, LLC | $175K | $100K | 1 |
| Hackman Capital Partners | $174K | — | 4 |
| SCI Shared Resources, LLC | $173K | $144K | 2 |
| Puerto Rico Potential, LLC | $172K | — | 1 |
| Los Angeles Police Protective League | $169K | $84K | 3 |
| Oracle | $168K | $45K | 3 |
| USA Waste of California - Waste Management | $165K | $88K | 1 |
| Morguard Corporation | $164K | $41K | 1 |
| AGI Avant Group Partners LLC | $162K | $18K | 1 |
| Rexford Industrial Realty | $161K | $58K | 1 |
| Related Companies of California | $155K | $26K | 2 |
| Valley Vista Services | $154K | $120K | 2 |
| LAFC Sports, LLC | $152K | — | 3 |
| Blue Jay Transit, Inc. | $151K | $53K | 1 |
| Airbnb, Inc. | $150K | $90K | 1 |
| 5825 W. Sunset, LLC | $149K | $145K | 1 |
| Steep Rock Capital | $149K | — | 1 |
| Prologis, Inc. | $149K | $28K | 1 |
| Deloitte Consulting LLP | $147K | $51K | 3 |
| Individuals and unclassified clients845 in 2025, 678 in 2026 so far; counted, not named | $23.8M | $11.3M | — |
75 of 1,387 organizations shown; the download has every organization with payments since 2021.
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Lobbying firms
Firms by payments reported to them in 2025, with the number of clients that paid them that year and the lobbyists registered with them in 2026. Lobbyists are counted per firm, not named.
| Firm | 2025 | 2026 so far | Clients 2025 | Lobbyists 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Englander Knabe and Allen | $6.0M | $2.8M | 96 | 11 |
| M Strategic Communications | $3.8M | $1.7M | 37 | 6 |
| DLA Piper LLP (US) | $2.8M | $1.6M | 40 | 8 |
| TChoi and Associates | $2.4M | $993K | 24 | 1 |
| MAX DEVELOPMENT LLC dba three6ixty | $2.2M | $809K | 78 | 11 |
| Craig Lawson & Co., LLC | $1.9M | $884K | 56 | 9 |
| Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP | $1.7M | $528K | 28 | 10 |
| Kindel Gagan | $1.7M | $657K | 29 | 5 |
| Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP | $1.7M | $861K | 48 | 9 |
| Rand Paster & Nelson, LLP | $1.7M | $474K | 91 | 10 |
| Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP | $1.6M | $606K | 45 | 14 |
| Irvine and Associates, Inc. | $1.6M | $744K | 43 | 7 |
| Kirra, LLC | $1.5M | $720K | 24 | 3 |
| Mercury Public Affairs | $1.5M | $695K | 19 | 5 |
| Arnie Berghoff & Associates | $1.5M | $758K | 30 | 4 |
| Rosenheim & Associates, Inc. | $1.5M | $858K | 64 | 9 |
| Burns & Bouchard, Inc. | $1.3M | $813K | 43 | 5 |
| Somos Law Group LLP | $1.2M | $226K | 20 | 13 |
| Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP | $1.2M | — | 57 | — |
| Marathon Communications Inc | $1.2M | $509K | 24 | 8 |
| Gonzales Law Group, APC | $1.1M | $325K | 18 | 2 |
| Paul Hastings LLP | $1.1M | $537K | 29 | 11 |
| Ballard Partners | $1.0M | $653K | 26 | 3 |
| Chief Strategies | $1.0M | $697K | 23 | 3 |
| Leon & Walsh Public Affairs | $1.0M | $556K | 11 | 3 |
| Michael Bai and Associates | $996K | $434K | 9 | 1 |
| Sunkin Group, LLC | $978K | $519K | 15 | 1 |
| Actum I, LLC | $963K | $641K | 12 | 7 |
| Alston & Bird LLP | $922K | $62K | 14 | 5 |
| Advocacy | $910K | $525K | 11 | 1 |
| Strategic Government Affairs | $788K | $450K | 25 | 2 |
| Afriat Consulting Group Inc | $749K | $484K | 29 | 4 |
| Holland & Knight | $695K | $45K | 10 | 4 |
| Mayer Brown LLP | $673K | $421K | 26 | 7 |
| Brenner Consulting Group, Inc. | $667K | $343K | 23 | 1 |
| California Strategies and Advocacy LLC | $649K | $129K | 18 | 2 |
| M Advisors LLC | $613K | $322K | 7 | 1 |
| Veritas Public Affairs Inc. | $588K | $400K | 11 | 1 |
| Sugerman Communications Group | $585K | $163K | 5 | 1 |
| Beroukhim & Company, LLC | $567K | $230K | 71 | 1 |
| Firms registered under a lobbyist's own name13 in 2025; counted, not named | $872K | $487K | — | — |
740 lobbyist registrations in 2026. Some firms are a company's own staff lobbying for it (in-house lobbyists), so the firm and the client can be the same organization.
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Matters lobbied
Each quarterly report lists the City matters a firm lobbied for each client. Of the 115,369 matter lines filed for 2025 and 2026 (through Q2), 9,645 (8.4%) name a council file; most name none, or name a planning case, an address or a contract instead. Council-file numbers are read from the filed reference text, so a typing error in a filing carries through.
Council files named most often
| Council file | Clients | Organizations named |
|---|---|---|
| 15-1207-S1 | 14 | AEG; Ca Iatse Council; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and 7 more3 other clients counted, not named |
| 14-1371-S13 | 12 | American Airlines; American Hotel & Lodging Association; California Restaurant Association; Delta Airlines and 8 more |
| 19-0229-S2 | 12 | California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses; California Restaurant Association; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Chick-fil-A, Inc. and 7 more1 other client counted, not named |
| 23-1134 | 11 | AIDS Healthcare Foundation; California Apartment Association Los Angeles; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Housing Action Coalition and 5 more2 other clients counted, not named |
| 23-0932 | 7 | California Restaurant Association; Central City Association of Los Angeles; LA Area Chamber of Commerce; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and 3 more |
| 25-1036 | 7 | California Apartment Association Los Angeles; Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; Natural Resources Defense Council3 other clients counted, not named |
| 26-0489 | 7 | California Ranked Choice Voting Coalition; LA Area Chamber of Commerce; LA County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and 3 more |
| 25-0029 | 7 | Central City Association of Los Angeles; Hospitality Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Trust Fund; Hotel Association of Los Angeles; UNITE HERE Local 113 other clients counted, not named |
| 22-0617 | 5 | AIDs Healthcare Foundation; AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Central City Association of Los Angeles; LA Area Chamber of Commerce and 1 more |
| 20-1536 | 5 | Summit Media LLC; Tranzito-Vector, LLC3 other clients counted, not named |
| 25-0006-S16 | 5 | California Apartment Association Los Angeles; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH)1 other client counted, not named |
| 23-0623-S1 | 5 | Abundant Housing LA; Housing Action Coalition; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH); UNITE HERE Local 11 and 1 more |
| 18-1246 | 5 | Airbnb, Inc.; Hospitality Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Trust Fund; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; Unite Here Local 11 and 1 more |
| 25-1083 | 5 | Abundant Housing LA; Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Housing Action Coalition; LA Area Chamber of Commerce and 1 more |
| 26-0600 | 5 | Central City Association of Los Angeles; Hospitality Industry Labor-Management Cooperation Trust Fund; UNITE HERE Local 112 other clients counted, not named |
| 26-0088 | 5 | Abundant Housing LA; Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Los Angeles Business Council; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH)1 other client counted, not named |
| 23-0623 | 4 | AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Bedrock Properties dba Uncommon Developers; Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH) |
| 15-0989-S47 | 4 | Central City Association of Los Angeles; Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; UNITE HERE Local 11; Western States Regional Council of Carpenters |
| 25-0043 | 4 | Abundant Housing LA; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH); Western States Regional Council of Carpenters |
| 14-0518 | 4 | LA Area Chamber of Commerce; Ridgecrest Property LLC2 other clients counted, not named |
| 14-1371 | 4 | California Restaurant Association; Central City Association of Los Angeles; LA Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress1 other client counted, not named |
| 25-1466 | 4 | California Restaurant Association; Central City Association of Los Angeles; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; UNITE HERE Local 11 |
| 24-0602 | 4 | Synthetic Turf Council3 other clients counted, not named |
| 23-0038-S8 | 4 | Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF); Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH)1 other client counted, not named |
| 24-1225 | 4 | Esperanza Community Housing Corporation; Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy; Natural Resources Defense Council; Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH) |
A file number links to its page here when City payments cite it; otherwise it is shown as filed. Any file can be looked up in the City Clerk's Council File Management System.
City agencies lobbied in 2025
Clients whose matters listed each agency. 62,487 matter lines that year listed no agency (“None/Not Yet Assigned” or blank) and are not counted here.
| Agency, as filed | Clients | Matter lines |
|---|---|---|
| Planning, City | 1,286 | 11,339 |
| Building and Safety | 980 | 6,999 |
| City Council | 968 | 8,660 |
| Public Works, Engineering | 461 | 3,019 |
| Mayor, Office of | 399 | 3,885 |
| Los Angeles Housing Department | 337 | 2,774 |
| Water & Power (DWP) | 305 | 2,157 |
| Transportation (LADOT, DOT) | 272 | 1,785 |
| Neighborhood Councils | 241 | 1,118 |
| Fire (LAFD) | 223 | 1,362 |
| Public Works, Sanitation | 159 | 1,026 |
| City Attorney, Office of | 134 | 782 |
| Public Works, Street Services | 134 | 716 |
| Public Works, Board of | 123 | 1,062 |
| Police (LAPD) | 119 | 638 |
| Airports, Los Angeles World (LAWA, LAX) | 89 | 655 |
| Dept of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) | 51 | 318 |
| Harbor (Port of LA, POLA) | 51 | 405 |
| City Administrative Officer (CAO) | 40 | 350 |
| Public Works, Street Lighting | 40 | 212 |
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City vendors in these records
Companies the City pays whose lobbying-client or behested-payment filings were matched to their checkbook name by hand. Each vendor page shows its records.
How this works
Lobbying firms register with the City Ethics Commission, list their clients, and report each quarter what each client paid them and which City matters and agencies they lobbied. In-house lobbyists, employees paid to lobby for their employer, register too. The Commission publishes the filings as four open datasets, which this page reads.
The figures are what firms reported, not audited amounts. Reports are filed by calendar quarter, so totals here are by calendar year, not the City's July–June fiscal year.
Organizations are named; people are not. A client filed with a first name, or whose name cannot be confirmed as an organization's from the name alone, is counted in “Individuals and unclassified”. That group also holds some companies filed under a bare brand name, so it is not a count of private individuals.
Sources
City Ethics Commission, via the City's open-data portal (each released under CC0): Payments Made by Clients to Registered Lobbying Firms (h6ky-vznd); City Projects and Agencies Lobbied (4xuf-944h); Registered City Lobbyists (j4zm-9kqu); Clients of Registered Lobbying Firms (9z5d-hgrh). The datasets' metadata states an annual refresh; in practice they are updated as quarterly reports arrive. This page is rebuilt nightly.
What is counted. 196,895 payment rows after removing 254 exact duplicates (rows identical in every column, including the report link; $68K). 74,294 rows list a client with no amount; they are counted as “no amount reported”, not as $0. Since 2024 a firm's quarterly filing is often published as several documents, each listing the firm's clients, with the amounts on one of them, which is why the no-amount count rises from then. Addresses, ZIP codes, phone numbers and email addresses in the filings are not stored or shown.
The matching of City vendors to these records is by hand, name by name, with no fuzzy matching; the list and the reasons for each match are in the site's source code (src/lib/moneyin/aliases.ts).